Sunday, May 23, 2010

Plum tart with walnuts-update

This is one of the recipes I've always "feared" as very complicated ( as pretty much everything that needs caramelized sugar!). So I postponed it as long as I could, but since we went to Samascott orchards the previous week and I had 2 large bags of ripe plums and I made all the plum jam we can eat, I had to do something with the rest of them.
And I remembered this scrumptiously delicious recipe that has been sitting and waiting in my recipe book long enough! I might add that when I remember the sweetly-sour taste when my mom used to make it, the spongy-delicious crust soaked in caramelized syrup...I had no doubts I should go for it!!!

It actually turned out sooo much easier than I expected!!! I took me 17 minutes to make the tart ready to go in the oven!

INGREDIENTS

Fresh fruit:
- plums enough to cover the bottom of the pan ( when cut in half) you are going to bake the tart in. It is usually around 15 to 20 plums, depending on the size of the plums

- On the bottom of the pan you are going to bake the tart in, place the ingredients for caramelized sugar- 1 cup sugar, 1 stick butter and 3/4 cups water. Place over medium-high heat on the stove! Stir constantly with a wooden spoon and be careful not to overheat the sugar!
The sugar is supposed to look like that in stages before it's ready:

stage 1- light and bubbly

stage 2- Light and creamy

stage 3- Fluffy and starting to crystallize

stage 4- Beginning to change color and becoming liquefied ( be careful not to make it too dark!)

stage 5- this is how it's supposed to look like before you place the plums on top. At this stage if you let it cool down it would become as hard as glass.

- When you take the baking pan off the stove, it's time to fix up the batter in a jiffy! So, beat the 3 eggs with 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the flour and baking powder together and then add it slowly to the batter, while stirring with a spatula ( or you can use Stir option on your mixer if you have it). As a last thing add the 3 tablespoons of water.

- Place the cut in halves plums bottom up over the caramelized sugar. Then, using a spoon, spread the batter evenly over the plums.

Adding the chopped walnuts over the batter and sprinkling with with some cinnamon are optional, but I think it adds to the flavor!

- Bake on 350F for 30-40 min or until golden on top. It's supposed to look like that:

- When you take it out of the oven, let it stand for 2-3 min and then turn the tart over a plate with the bottom up immediately. Let it cool down and soak in the syrup from the caramel ( you'll notice that when you turn it over). You can serve warm or cold, depending on preference, but do not serve until it has soaked all the syrup!It tastes better with it!

- You can garnish with vanilla ice cream or sour cream.

It's unbelievably delicious, so I have no doubts you are going to enjoy it!